“Hi girlies, could you please send me your favorite poems?” This is the exact text I sent my friends when I got the chance to write this article. My friends, the women who inspire me everyday, from whom I have learned to love the experience of life. I purposely asked them because I wanted to understand why these poems were their favorites, to dive into their perspective and see for myself what makes them such wonderful humans. So, in came the poems, and, to say the least, they surprised me. Nevertheless, I read them and started to understand all their intricacies, the things that made these poems special to my girls.
Untitled – Rupi Kaur
some people
are so bitter
to them
you must be kindest
My best friend Llamaris sent me this poem from her favorite book Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur. This poetry anthology came out in 2014 and Kaur rose to fame because of her captivating, beautifully written rawness. When Llamaris first sent me this short poem, I was shocked. I know she likes to read, so why would she send me a four line poem? However, after reading it and relating it to her, it made so much sense. Llamaris is one of the kindest humans I’ve ever known. She has this almost innate ability to care and love with an honesty and compassion that makes her so powerful; and she IS kindest to those who’ve hurt her. She shows this by removing herself from the scene almost as if to say “I don’t wanna hurt you like you hurt me, so I will no longer fight with you.” But, for the people who haven’t hurt her, the ones she loves, she SHOWS UP in the fiercest way. I feel the need to thank her for nine years (and counting) of unwavering support and love that has kept me afloat. I have no idea what I’d do without her, and I never intend to find out.
Accents – Denice Frohman
my mom holds her accent like a shotgun,
with two good hands.
her tongue, all brass knuckle
slipping in between her lips
her hips, all laughter and wind clap.
she speaks a sanchocho of spanish and english,
pushing up against one another,
in rapid fire
there is no telling my mama to be “quiet,”
she don’t know “quiet.”
her voice is one size better fit all
and you best not tell her to hush,
she waited too many years for her voice to arrive
to be told it needed housekeeping.
English sits her her mouth remixed
so “strawberry” becomes “ehstrawbeddy”
and “cookie” becomes “ehcookie”
and kitchen, key chain, and chicken all sound the same.
my mama doesn’t say “yes” she says “ah ha”
and suddenly the sky in her mouth becomes a Hector Lavoe song.
her tongue can’t lay itself down flat enough
for the English language,
it got too much hip
too much bone
too much conga
too much cuatro
to two step
got too many piano keys
in between her teeth,
it got too much clave
too much hand clap
got too much salsa to sit still
it be an anxious child wanting to
make PlayDoh out of concrete English
be too neat for her kind of wonderful.
her words spill in conversation
between women whose hands are all they got
sometimes our hands are all we got
and accents remind us that we are still
bomba, still plena
say “wepa” and a stranger becomes your hermano.
say “dale” and a crowd becomes your family reunion.
my mama’s tongue is a telegram from her mother
decorated with the coqui’s of el campo.
so even though her lips can barely stretch themselves around english,
her accent is a stubborn compass always pointing her toward home.
I met Nahiomy in my second year of college. We took the Intro to Journalism class together and became instant friends. When I asked her to send me a poem for this piece, she told me that her favorite poems were in Spanish but she had fallen in love with “Accents” when we discussed it in a class we took together called 21st Century Literature in the Puerto Rican Diaspora. This poem is the perfect example of that class and how it felt to take it with Nahiomy. It felt so special to sit in a room and learn from a phenomenal professor about the talent that runs in our blood; because like Denice Frohman, Nahiomy possesses a natural writing ability that’s out of this world, she’s incredible. I think that’s why she sent me this poem: because it’s undeniable. Words like this only pour out of innately talented people and Nahiomy fits perfectly into that category. I want her to know that all her friends—including myself—are so proud of her we could burst; we love her unconditionally.
Wallflower – Lang Leav
Shrinking in a corner,
pressed into the wall;
do they know I’m present,
am I here at all?
Is there a written rule book,
that tells you how to be—
all the right things to talk about—
that everyone has but me?
Slowly I am withering—
a flower deprived of sun;
longing to belong to—
somewhere or someone.
As the years go by, I’ve started reconnecting with people that I thought belonged to my past. My friend Fabiana is one of those people. Our story started because of Llamaris and I couldn’t be more grateful to her for introducing us. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone so full of love, which is why this poem surprised me. She contextualized this poem by telling me that she was infatuated with the idea of standing out, yet struggled with fitting in. To her, I want to say that her light shines so bright that she lights up any room she walks in. Therefore, she will always be the missing piece in any situation she’s not a part of; she has the power to fit in and stand out anywhere she goes. Fabi is one of the most giving souls I’ve ever met, she’s opened up her home and her heart to all of us lucky enough to be close to her.
In all honesty, I want to close this off with a Thank You Note to my girls for helping me out with this article. You really have no idea how much I love and appreciate all of you for just being there for me through all these years. There really is no one I’d rather get to know better than you guys. ¡Las amo muuuucho!